THE CLARKE AWARD
The Clarke Award, says its director
Tom Hunter, is in rude health. This year the award received 124 submissions, compared to 46 a decade ago. These are figures that reflect how a mix of publishers, both literary and genre imprints, now value the prize so highly. It also reflects, says Hunter, how so many writers, from all kinds of backgrounds, are “playing with science fiction’s toolkit” as they tackle subjects such as climate change.
It makes Hunter optimistic for the Clarke’s future: “I’m thinking how do we get to 50 [in 2037] and what will we look like at that point?”
SEMIOSIS Sue Burke (HarperVoyager)
Escaping conflict on Earth, idealistic settlers arrive on Pax, where they have plans to build a utopian society. Except Pax already has smart inhabitants: plants that have domesticated and even slaughtered the native fauna. A novel from a Chicago-based Clarion workshop alumnus that takes the SF staple of first contact somewhere new and unexpected. Fellow SF authors have been fulsome in their praise. Status: Decent outside bet
REVENANT GUN Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
The conclusion to the Machineries of Empire trilogy confirms Yoon Ha Lee’s status as one of the leading lights in whatever we’re calling the latest iteration of space opera. Opener Ninefox Gambit (2016) was also Clarke nominated, yet this is a stronger book, notable for the way Baton Rouge-based Lee pulls together plot strands while showing us his exotic fictional universe from new angles. Status: Ace outsider
FRANKENSTEIN IN BAGHDAD Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
On the streets of US-occupied Baghdad, junk dealer Hadi collects body parts. Why? To stitch them together so that this kit corpse might get a decent burial rather than its constituent parts be ignored, as would otherwise happen. Then the body goes missing and a series of eerie murders afflicts the city. Iraqi writer and filmmaker Saadawi updates Mary Shelley’s SF urtext with mordant wit. Status: Contender
THE ELECTRIC STATE Simon Stålenhag (Simon & Schuster)
Define what constitutes a novel… Simon Stålenhag creates SF images that mix the everyday and the fantastical. In The Electric State, a book of sparse prose, his artwork is central to the tale of Michelle, who, accompanied by her toy robot Skip, heads out on an American road trip in search of her missing brother. Beautiful and melancholy. Status: Really, why not?
RoSewateR Tade Thompson (Orbit)
After aliens land, human society is changed forever. Not least in a near-future Nigeria, where a vast dome of off-world origins opens once a year, and the sick are cured and, inconveniently, the undead raised as zombies. Anglo-Nigerian Tade Thompson’s debut takes equal measures of cyberpunk, biopunk and afrofuturism, and shakes them up in unexpected ways. Status: Not to jinx, but Thompson’s year?
THE LOOSENING SKIN Aliya Whiteley (Unsung Stories)
Every seven years, the characters in this weird thriller shed their skins. In the process, they effectively leave behind their old lives. But what happens if you moult more often? Or what if you take a drug, Suscutin, that enables you to keep your old skin? A big-hearted novel about love and loss, told with panache. Status: A possible contender JW
The Clarke Award winner will be announced on Wednesday 17 July.
The lowdown on the cutting-edge SF novels up for the prestigious literary award